Star India all-rounder likely to return for white-ball series against South Africa

New Delhi: Star India all-rounder is reportedly set to make his international comeback from injury in the home white-ball series against South Africa. According to The Times of India report, Hardik Pandya is currently working on his fitness at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru.

He is recovering well from the quadriceps injury, which he suffered during the 2025 T20 Asia Cup in the UAE. The all-rounder picked up the injury during the Super-Four match against Sri Lanka, just before the final against Pakistan. He batted in the first innings and scored just two runs.

Pandya then opened the bowling in the second innings, taking a wicket for just seven runs. However, just a few overs later, he walked back to the dressing room and didn’t come out for the rest of the innings as the game went into a Super-Over, which India won.

He missed the summit clash of the tournament against Pakistan and was not included in the white-ball squads for the ongoing tour of Australia.

A BCCI official told the TOI that Hardik reported to the BCCI's Centre of Excellence after the holiday break on November 21, and he will be there for a month.

"He has started his gym sessions and should be back in action during the white-ball series against South Africa at some point," a BCCI official said as quoted by the TOI.

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The Men in Blue struggled during the ODI series against Australia in Pandya’s absence. To maintain the batting depth, India didn’t pick their best spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, which resulted in the series defeat.

In the first T20I, India picked both Dube and Harshit Rana in the playing XI, alongside Kuldeep, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Jasprit Bumrah. It looked like an excellent combination, but the match was washed out due to rain. The Men in Blue lost the second T20I by four wickets.